5 Best VPNs for Online Poker

We know that playing poker online can be a huge thrill, but also that it can cause a lot of problems. There are two major problems when playing online and these are security and geo-restrictions. Today, we will show you how you can solve both of these problems and enjoy the game even more.

Firstly, many poker sites are only accessible from certain countries due to the gambling restrictions that are applied to these companies. While this is understandable, many of us would still like to access our favourite poker sites whenever and wherever. This is especially problematic if you wish to play Texas Holdem Poker while you’re travelling. For our US cousins, the restrictions are even greater! By using a VPN you are able to spoof your IP address so that it looks like your playing from another country.

Secondly, like with all online gaming, especially where money is involved, hackers are looking to get your data. If you’re connected to a VPN, this will mean that your connection is encrypted. Therefore, it will be harder for criminals to get your data, or for sore losers to try and DDoS you mid game and cause you to lose.

We will examine all of the above, and more, at the end of this post, but without further ado, let’s look at the 5 Best VPN providers when playing online poker.

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VPNArea

5/5

PROS

No logs

Great security

Up to 5 devices

Accepts Bitcoins

CONS

Not a lot

While VPNArea might be a small and relatively new VPN provider, it’s packed full of features. The small Bulgarian company has kept up with all the technical advancements in the VPN world. This means that they have DNS leak protection (IPv4 and IPv6) as well as WebRTC protection. They also collect no logs and their primary servers are based in Switzerland for further ease of mind.

On top of all of that, they allow you to pay by Bitcoin, thereby 100% protecting your identity. While there are a few kinks here and there, on the whole, there is very little to fault. With a seven-day free trial available, go ahead and find out for yourself.

IPVanish

4.4/5

PROS

No logs

Good speeds

Servers in 60+ countries

CONS

Support isn’t always the best

Maximum 2 simultaneous connections

IPVanish has led the gaming VPN industry for a long time, so it’s no surprise that they rank so highly on the list for online poker gaming. Their software is packed with convenient features that help secure and hide your connection, but at the same time it’s also easy to use for beginners.

Like VPNArea, they also allow for Bitcoin payment for added security. They are also one of the only VPN providers to have a T1 level network, which allows them to have a low latency and some of the best connection speeds on the internet. If the above doesn’t suit your fancy, then we’re glad to say that IPVanish also provides a 7-day free trial to find out if it’s the perfect choice for you.

AirVPN

4.1/5

PROS

Based in Italy

Transparent VPN service

Open source client

3-day free trial

Real time statistics

CONS

Can be too techy for some people

Limited number of servers

Customer support could be improved

AirVPN is one heck of a VPN provider from Italy. Since it was started by ‘hacktivists’, it’s no surprise that it’s jam packed with tools and features. On top of this, they are one of the best VPN service providers that has a completely open source software, which means that it can be inspected and fixed for vulnerabilities. With leak protections in place, and software for all three major operating system, it’s a worthy contender.

The downside is the same as the upside – founded by ‘hacktivists’. This means support isn’t the best, you might find the software too be too confusing and visually it’s not the most attractive either. However, if you don’t mind all of that, then start protecting your poker games with AirVPN right now.

BolehVPN

3.8/5

PROS

No logs

Gaming servers available

Kill Switch and DNS leak protection included

Cloaked servers

CONS

Somewhat bare bones

Can be a bit too techy

BolehVPN is another VPN that has technical excellence. Like with the above, they have protection against DNS leaks and WebRTC. They also have a kill-switch should your connection cease up. They also have cloaked servers that help disguise the fact that you’re using a VPN tunnel. Based somewhere off the shore of Malaysia means that your data will also be kept safe.

VPN.ac

3.3/5

PROS

Up to 3 connections

Based in Romania

Solid Privacy Policy

CONS

Speeds can vary

Not much else

VPN.ac is also based in Eastern Europe, as it’s a very popular location for companies that want to keep their users data private. The company has great technical experience and knowledge, making sure that your connection is always secure. To highlight all of the previously mentioned, they also have a very well detailed Privacy Policy that explains everything about this companies operation. If you’ve tried the above 4 previously, and are still having problems, then it’s worth giving VPN.ac a shot.

Legal Considerations for Using a VPN at Poker Sites

According to most poker and gambling services’ Terms and Conditions, using a Virtual Private Network while playing, or spoofing your location, is against their policy. Should you up to do this, be aware that not only could your account be suspended (with funds frozen) but they could also take legal action against you – hence the very serious disclaimer at the end of this article. Take a look at what happened with PokerStars.

Despite the above, there are people who wish to use a VPN to bypass these geographical registrations to be able to play at selected sites. This is primarily true of US consumers, where the online gambling industry has been in havoc and is only allowed in three states. If you are one of these people, then you’ll also have to consider payment types as you will either need a card or bank account (likely with foreign currency) that is of the same origin as your VPN location or an anonymous payment method. For the latter, we’d recommend you look at poker sites that accept Bitcoins. Of course, there are still instances when they will ask for proof of identity (especially when large sums are being withdrawn or deposited) for which scenario we do not know of any legal solutions.

The area where we think that the laws become slightly blurred and we think that Terms and Conditions could expand on, is whether using a VPN to play poker while on holiday is allowed or not, as well as for protecting yourself as mentioned below.

Technical Considerations for Using a VPN at a Poker Sites

Like with most online industries, poker sites are prone to hackers no matter how much precaution the sites try to take. With a VPN connection not only is your traffic encrypted but your real IP address is hidden as well, which gives you an added layer of security.

In online gaming, not everyone is friendly. When people want to desperately win, they will do anything to do so and there have been numerous reports of winning parties losing their internet connection due to a DDoS attack. A “Distributed Denial of Service” attack means that your computer gets more requests than it can handle and dies on you. While most of the time this is temporary, by the time your back up and running you’ve likely been booted from the game or lost all of your poker chips. By using a VPN, your home computer will be protected as much larger resources are required to bring down the VPN servers, which also have professional DDoS protection built into them. Should hackers still manage to take it down you should be able to connect to a new VPN server quickly and efficiently. While we haven’t heard of any reports of this happening to players, there have been recorded attempts at the poker companies themselves.

You’ll have seen in our review that we’ve mentioned DNS leaks, WebRTC protection and kill switch a number of times. The reason for this is that even though VPNs try to be extremely secure there can be a number of flaws that can still reveal your real location – primarily DNS leaks and WebRTC. A killswitch is useful because it will shut down your internet if you lose connection to the VPN, while this does mean that you might lose your place at a poker table, your real location won’t be revealed to the poker network.

We think that the above points are great reasons to use a VPN while playing poker, and as long as your connected to a server in your own country we hope that most poker sites wouldn’t have a qualm about it.

Poker & VPN Disclaimer

Because of the legal and technical implications that using a VPN while playing poker can create, the information we provide here is ‘as is’ and for informational purposes only. Should you proceed to play poker with a VPN, we are legally not responsible for your actions.

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2 responses to “5 Best VPNs for Online Poker”

I have major beef with your choices. CLEARLY this is not written by a poker player. Any poker player knows you never use shared IP addresses to play poker on or you will be banned. Most of us end up finding lists like this and lose quite a bit of money before realizing you need to have something custom setup (best option) or use a service that offers custom dedicated IP addresses

Thanks for your reply. I do play online poker and often use these VPNs and have done so for a while without any issues. However, I will take your points into considerations and update the list shortly. Thanks for your input.